George Abiel Washburn

He lived in West Stafford, CT, was first apprenticed as a cabinetmaker, and worked as a bookkeeper. He was then successful in the insurance business as an agent and adjuster. He was commissioned First Lieutenant and Regimental Quartermaster, 4th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (3 months service) on 14 May 1861. He then was First Lieutenant, 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery. He was promoted to Captain, Company M on 22 May 1862. He enrolled as Major, 16th Connecticut Infantry on 22 June [or 24 August] 1862.

He was seriously wounded in action on 17 September 1862 at Antietam. He was later honored by brevet for "meritorious service" there.

He resigned and was discharged on disability 17 January 1863. He returned to service as First Lieutenant, Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC) on 18 June 1863, and was promoted to Captain on 27 June. He was made Major on 28 October, and Lieutenant Colonel, 20th Regiment, VRC on 30 March 1864. He was honorably discharged on 30 June 1866. He was awarded brevets on 13 March 1865 to Colonel of Volunteers for War service, and to Brigadier General for Antietam.

He moved to Aiken, SC in 1883 for his health.

Military information from Ingersoll1, with details from Heitman2, who has his last name as Washburne. VRC information from Frederick Phisterer's Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States (1883). His photograph from one in the MOLLUS Massachusetts Collection3. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

See more about this family from George Abiel's son William Lewis Washburn's Abiel Washburn and his Descendants (1914), online from the Internet Archives. A large full-length portrait of him in uniform is in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford. His wartime papers are at the Connecticut State Library in Hartford.

04/23/1827; Belchertown, MA

05/19/1891; Walhalla, SC; burial in Spring Grove Cemetery, Hartford, CT